Another update.A unique TD game called "Gem Craft" its pretty good in my opinion with lots of levels, and leveling up.

When you start the game you are greeted with something that resembles thisTower Defense games collection updated 27-9-08

The game plays like a normal TD in the sense that you place towers to blast creeps. But when you place towers you also have to place gems in the tower. Every time you create a gem you get a random one which you can either place in a tower, combine with another or use as ammunition with the "Gem bomb" abilityTower Defense games collection updated 27-9-08

Leaving your body and pregnant wife behind while you undertake a hyperspace mission to fight millions of aliens using only the power of your consciousness is not going to make you feel any better. Thus begins the intriguing plot of Immortal Defense

Selling point: Story and Tower Designs

Another selling point is the compelling story: which other tower defense game has kept you awake till 3AM?

Story = Let's just say even if this game wasn't a tower defense game, the story is above average. Literally one of the few games where you can't imagine presenting the story any better if it wasn't in videogame form.

Tower Designs = Unlike other highly praised Tower Defense games, you can't alter the path of your enemies but the designs of the Towers are so varied enough that you can literally place them anywhere (hint: tower range increases with upgrades) but as with strategy games, you're not guaranteed to win if you place them poorly.

Cons: Price Tag, First impression of Graphics, Interface Quirks

Immortal Defense is not without its faults, the most notable being the fact that the action can sometimes get very confusing. This is in part due to the design of the creeps, which are a bit too dark and hard to spot the one you really want to target. Another one may be the price tag. With so many enjoyable freeware defense games around, it's easy to summarily dismiss this game's price as "too high". The guys at RPGCreations probably know this, and that's why they put together a very, very long freeware demo version. The demo alone can last 3 or even 4 hours depending on how much you want to improve each single level score, and that's more than enough play time to help you decide whether the game is worth $22.95 or not. In the meantime, go download the demo and have a psychedelic tower-defensive trip with it.

That's up to you to decide. There's also half-off offer if you link to the game from your website or blog or Myspace or Facebook or whatever. And if you're really poor (16 and don't have a job, living in a third world nation where $23 is food for a month, etc.) email me and if you're convincing I might send it to you for free. And as for indie games, most of them actually are $20 -- go check out some indie game portals like Manifesto Games and see for yourself, the vast majority of indie games are around the $20 mark, and some (such as popular indie games Jets'n'Guns and Aquaria) are $30. I also try changing the price around occasionally, for a few months it'll be $15, etc.

Most reminded me of:

Fallout meets Dungeon Keeper 2

Not quite as interactive but it's written uniquely enough that like both of those games, the linearability wouldn't bother most gamers including people who are into it for the story.

It's also very post-apocalyptic and metaphysical so for those not into that kind of storytelling, it might not be for you. (though I'm not a fan and loved it)

If you want to have any hope of getting anywhere in "medium" difficulty, you'll need to modify the maps to give you more money and mana. The game is good, but the default maps in it are insanely difficult. "Hiway", the second map, is impossible to complete without modifying the map settings.

The key idea is you should upgrade your Optimus prime bots instead of always using single new ones.

After a "squeak win" by one life bar, once I knew I had the concept down, I went for a cleaner solid win.

What takes a few seconds to explain is that this is the last level, and it's just about to fade to black with "you win." So this shot is the pattern (and "proof!) - even if one or both of those last enemies gets into the base, I clearly have enough life bars for a solid victory.

And unlike a fluke win, I have the pattern down enough so with a little care, it's repeatable.

I've been mildly irritated that my recent wins always had "artistic flaws" where a bunch of enemies would breach home base way the end. This time I found one of the "perfect" formulas that left no room in doubt, so I am ready to do a big writeup.

1. Overview notesAutobot Stronghold is a tower defense type game with waves of enemy armies. I have remarked that for a tie-in to a commercial ad, it really is well put together and balanced. Now that I figured out a crucial aspect, I no longer believe I even have seen any bugs!

Without looking at spoilers like this or others on the net, it's a game that you have to play at least "seven times" to win, because it pulls some tricks you just don't see coming on your initial pass through. There are more tactical details involved, but here are the crucial points I now understand.

2. Crucial strategiesa. Levels 1-25 For months I thought you didn't earn the right to deploy Optimus Prime until level 25. That's because at a "certain pace" ... it just tends to be there when you get the right pre-reqs. But the correct answer is 100,000 points plus 50 sparks. So on the early levels when you are tempted to just "play relaxing" and you end up with whole minutes waiting for the army to die, while you make coffee and stuff, is a mistake! In fact, you can actually "send next wave" whenever you like -- and you get bonus points doing so! So this means that you can get an extra 15,000 ish points over levels 5-22, and if you don't overspend and make sure you have enough sparks banked up, starting around level 23-24, you can get Optimus one crucial frame early *before* the "breakpoint level" 25.

b. Once you unlock the rights to deploy Optimus, unless you are "hardcore playing for score", there is no further reason to rush, so then it makes most strategy to stretch existing resources to the very max and not go for "squash crushes" of the armies - you will need a bank of sparks on hand for emergencies! Both deploying and upgrading Optimus are in batches of 50 sparks each, and once you have him unlocked, it no longer makes any sense to buy lower level units.

c. Soldiers, Rats, Copters, and DreadnoughtsOne reason it takes "7 plays to win" is you have to see the spread of armies over all 50 levels ... because there are lots of "close but no cigars" at the end! You do indeed get a lot of "slack" where letting through two dumb rats and a helicopter won't end your game ... the problem is that once you miscalculate and get overloaded, it all just caves in! So while in theory you can ignore the big slow moving dreadnoughts, by themselves they won't kill you - but what they do is siphon off your defense fire in distraction while 15 other things get through!

Chances are the Soldiers, while durable, aren't your main problem. The bigger problems are that the copters come straight at the middle of the board, and the rats run really fast around them. So you need a really solid spread to handle them in pairs, and a good chunk of strategy to avoid getting "magpied" by the dreadnoughts that basically refuse to die.

3. Top row! The game DOES "play fair" by sending a couple "sacrrficial scouts" at the top to let you know that's a legal entry point, because chances are the first time you play you have no idea that's even legal! So even at worst if those two get by, the point is, it's warning you that you better put up some *powerhouse* defense up there because your 20 guys down on the bottom don't help with 23 guys storming in at the top in the high 40's levels!

.. And that REALLY is a problem! So while having one good upgraded Optimus over on the side does help, you really need to load up on the top left because a quad of Optimus protects the entire top left of the board.

4. "Closers"A big "close but no cigar" problem to avoid is that enemies with 1 hp left still damage your base! So it's bad news to "almost kill them" and let them all get too close. So at different levels you can put a few "closers" like at the top right and down right by home base just to "seal the deal" with the random few guys that slip through from "micro timing" through your main strategic defense.

Here is my diagram. The diagram box on the bottom right is resources that *are not there in the final scenes*, but indicate how they were there for "earlier needs" in levels 2-30 before getting sold off at the end to get more Optimus bots.

5. "Trap buys"Not all bots are created equally useful. In approx order my eval of value is:Levels 1-20:1-3 gold Ratchets, 1-3 gold Bumblebees, and a whole lot of sky-aiming (copters!!) silver Ironhides. I never had a use for the Jazz bot. It just seems like too little of anything to be useful except as an esoteric "hard way" experiment. Levels 21-25:Start to really hang on tight because a good couple send-next waves tips you over the 100,000 point mark to get Optimus, and make sure you have the sparks on hand. So it's okay to play it really tight where you even allow 2 guys through because a couple of these levels have that incredible balancing where something like 2 rats and/or 2 copters get through just from micro placement. You don't need to waste 40 sparks desperately trying to stop them - because then you just tricked yourself out of an Optimus! Level 26-30:Optimus! *Upgrade him!* What I completely missed until I had to look online was that while the other guys in early levels "just get kinda strong", Optimus can shoot *multi rays*! So notice there are only so many really correct strategic placements because single deploys elsewhere just end up failing at the last second. Instead, upgrade the strategic ones to level 2-3.

Good luck!

Tower Defense games collection updated 27-9-08

---------------------Edit: Here's one with a few less purchase-then-sales on the side traded for a more aesthetic bot on the bottom to add that extra solidity to the lower half of the board.